Report: Duke Books Exhibition Opponent For Halloween
Duke basketball normally bypasses a preseason secret scrimmage against another Division I program in order to play two exhibition games. One of those exhibitions is normally against an HBCU, while the other, traditionally, is against the Division II national champions.
This year, however, the Division II tournament wasn’t played, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Duke has reportedly decided to replace a game against the champions with a game against Division II contender Walsh. The Morning Journal reported that the Cavaliers would play Duke in Cameron on October 31.
“We were on a meeting and Coach (Kevin) Hacke said, ‘I’ve got some news for you, we’re going to be playing Duke on October 31, and everybody was like ‘What?’ I was very surprised and I’m really looking forward to it and I’m excited for it,” incoming freshman Luke Howes told the paper
Walsh was 25-6 last season and earned a tournament berth by winning the G-MAC conference tournament. The Cavaliers were not in the Division II top 25 and were expected to be an 8-seed in the tourney. Walsh has not played a Power Five opponent or any Division I team since a 2016 exhibition game at Ohio State.
Duke has never lost to the Division II champions in their exhibition series.
Duke appears to have started the tradition in 2007-08, when it played Barton. It resumed in 2009-10 and has played the Division II champion every year since.
Duke’s average victory in this game is 94.5 to 58.1. Last year, Northwest Missouri State put a scare into Duke before losing 69-63, which was by far the closest game of the series. Prior to that, the closest games were in 2013, when Drury lost 81-65 and 2012, when Western Washington fell 105-87.
Of course, the game against Walsh depends heavily on the successful return of students to campus and the college basketball season starting on schedule.
